Gas hob as well as a pot support for a gas cooking area

ABSTRACT

A gas hob having a gas burner and a pot support. The pot support has randomly arranged pot support ribs to support a container for food to be cooked.

The invention relates to a gas hob as claimed in the preamble of claim 1 as well as a pot support as claimed in claim 15.

Gas hobs are usually fitted with pot supports on which containers for food to be cooked can be placed. A generic gas hob has at least one gas burner and at least one pot support which is designed with pot support ribs for placing a container for food to be cooked above the gas burner.

The object of the invention is to provide a gas hob or a pot support on which containers for food to be cooked can be placed with good stability.

Usually the pot support ribs of the known pot supports are arranged in regular lattice patterns. The pot support ribs positioned in this way are distributed evenly and symmetrically and their free ends can be pointed in the direction of the gas burner arranged below. The stability of a container for food to be cooked placed on the pot support can be impaired in particular when the container for food is moved across the pot support ribs separated from each other. In an unfavorable case the container for food may when moved assume a tilted position, which reduces its stability.

The object is achieved by the features of claim 1 or claim 15. Preferred developments of the invention are disclosed in the subclaims.

According to the characterizing part of claim 1, the ribs of the pot support are disposed in a random arrangement to one another. Departing from the prior art the ribs are therefore not distributed in regular lattice patterns but irregularly without regular structures over the gas hob. By this means perfect stability is ensured even for containers for food with unfavorably shaped bases.

A random arrangement is taken to mean all arrangements of the pot support ribs which give the impression of an irregular or arbitrary arrangement of the pot support ribs. In a view from above the pot support ribs distributed according to the invention therefore look like Mikado sticks arranged randomly over or next to each other.

Against this background the pot support ribs can be arranged asymmetrically to one another with regard to a pot support axis. The pot support axis can run in any direction, for example, in a lateral direction or in a downward direction, through the pot support. For the use of any containers for food, it is advantageous if the pot support ribs are disposed in varying lengths and/or at varying angles to one another. The pot support ribs can be advantageously rod-shaped, i.e. extended in a straight line in a linear direction. For stable storage the pot support can be supported by means of a support profile on the gas hob, in particular by means of feet on the pot support corners, by means of frame brackets and/or via a closed framework, which restricts the pot support on the side facing outward.

For a dimensionally stable position, the pot support ribs must be adequately supported on the substructure of the pot support. From the pot support ribs therefore first pot support ribs can be supported by means of at least two connecting points on the support profile and/or additional pot support ribs. To further increase the positioning area two pot support ribs which are only supported via one connecting point and are otherwise free from the substructure or jut out from other pot support ribs can be provided.

Preferably the pot support ribs can jut out sideways at least partially with an excess above the support profile. In this way the positioning area of the pot support can be increased sideways across the support profile. In addition, the sections of the pot support ribs above the support profile can serve as handle sections which make handling of the pot support easier.

To increase stability the tops of the pot support ribs can be on a common plane on which the container for food can be placed.

For reliable operation of the gas hob it is important that even if there are several containers for food placed on the pot support, the supply of secondary air to the gas burner is sufficiently great. According to the invention the pot support ribs can therefore project vertically over the support profile, in particular the pot support frame, at a predetermined height in the direction of the vertical axis.

The pot support ribs are preferably designed approximately at right angles in cross-section. In order to ensure an adequate secondary air supply, the pot support ribs can lie on end on the support profile. The preferred manufacturing process is to produce the pot support as a casting.

The gas hob may have at least two gas burners which can both be covered by a shared pot support. With four gas burners two pot supports can be assigned to the gas hob, each of which covers two of the four gas burners.

For perfect cooking it is an advantage if both the pot supports adjacent to one another on the gas hob are not exchanged with one another. On the other hand, however, it is an advantage in terms of the manufacturing process if both the pot supports are identical in order to keep tool costs low. Against this background both the pot supports can each be trapezoidal in shape. Of the two identical pot supports one can hence be placed on the gas hob rotated by 180°. In this way the orientation of the two pot supports is defined unequivocally. At the same time in the view from above the shape of a rectangle is produced in an optically favorable way.

Below an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown with the aid of the appended figures.

The figures show:

FIG. 1 a gas hob set into a work surface in perspective;

FIG. 2 seen on its own a pot support for the gas hob; and

FIG. 3 the pot support seen from above.

In FIG. 1 a gas hob set into a work surface 1 is shown. The top of the gas hob is covered by a glass ceramic hotplate 3. There are assembly openings in the glass ceramic hotplate 3 through which a total of four gas burners 5 jut, arranged in a rectangular manner to one another. Each of the gas burners 5 forms one gas cooking position.

Two adjacent cast iron pot supports 7 are positioned in an equipment lateral direction x on the glass ceramic hotplate 3. Two gas burners are assigned to each of the pot supports 7.

As shown in more detail in FIG. 1, the pot supports 7 each have an external frame 9 with frame brackets 10 as a substructure. The external frames 9 are trapezoidal in shape and each have feet 6 at their corners, via which the respective pot support 5 is positioned on the glass ceramic hotplate 3 of the gas hob.

The pot supports 7 have ribs 11, 12 on which to place a container for food. According to the figures these are distributed in an irregular way in a random arrangement across the pot support external frames 9. The pot support ribs 11, 12 extend according to FIG. 3 in varying lengths l₁, l₂, l₃ above the gas burners 5. Overall the pot support ribs 11, 12 are arranged asymmetrically to one another with regard to any pot support axes and furthermore, distributed at varying angles α₁, α₂, α₃ with regard to, for example, a lower frame bracket 10 in accordance with FIG. 3. Of the pot support ribs 11, 12 distributed in a random arrangement, first pot support ribs 11 with two connecting points 13 are supported in a stable fashion on the framework brackets 10 and/or other pot support ribs 11. In addition, there are two pot support ribs 12 which jut out freely from the frame brackets 10 or the first pot support rib 11 and are only connected to the frame brackets 10 or the first pot support ribs 11 via one connecting point 13.

With their tops, overall the pot support ribs 11, 12 form a surface 13 on which to place containers for food. All the tops of the pot support ribs 11 are on a common positioning plane for this purpose.

In FIG. 3 one of the pot supports 7 is shown in a view from above. All the pot support ribs 11, 12 in the view shown from above give an impression of Mikado sticks lying randomly over and next to one another, each positioned on the external frames 9 of the pot supports 7 and partly jutting out sideways over the external frames 9 with an excess a (FIG. 2). On the one hand this makes handle sections to handle the pot support 7 on the outside of the frame. On the other hand the positioning surface 13 is enlarged laterally outward by this means.

The pot support ribs 11, 12 according to the invention extend in a straight line in a linear direction and are rod-shaped with a rectangular cross-section. The pot support ribs 11, 12 are positioned on end on the top 15 of the external frames 9. As a result an air gap open to the side and with a height h is produced between the top 15 of the external frames 9 and a base of a container for food, which ensures a reliable secondary supply of air to the gas burners 5.

As aforementioned, the external frames 8 of the adjacent pot supports 5 are each trapezoidal in shape. The pot supports 7 are designed identically and rotated by 180° to one another. I.e. the left pot support 7 in FIG. 1 points forward in a downward direction y with its short trapezoidal side, while the right pot support 5 shown in FIG. 2 points forward with its long trapezoidal side. In this way the orientation of the two pot supports 5 is defined unequivocally.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

-   1 Work surface -   3 Glass ceramic hotplate -   5 Gas burner -   6 Feet -   7 Pot support -   9 External frame -   11, 12 Pot support ribs -   13 Connecting points -   14 Positioning surface -   15 External frame top -   a Excess -   h Height -   l₁, l₂, l₃ Length of the pot support ribs -   α₁, α₂, α₃ Angular positions of the pot support ribs -   x Lateral direction -   y Downward direction -   z Vertical axis direction 

1-15. (canceled)
 16. A gas hob, comprising: a gas burner; and a pot support having pot support ribs to support a container for food to be cooked, wherein the pot support ribs are disposed in a random arrangement to one another.
 17. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the pot support ribs are distributed in an irregular manner across the pot support.
 18. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the pot support ribs are arranged asymmetrically to one another.
 19. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the pot support ribs are of varying lengths.
 20. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the pot support ribs are at varying angles to one another.
 21. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the pot support has a support profile to position at least one of feet, frame brackets, and a closed frame on the gas hob.
 22. The gas hob of claim 21, wherein at least one of: a first pot support rib is supported by two connecting points; and a second pot support rib is connected by a connecting point and juts out from one of the support profile and the first pot support rib.
 23. The gas hob of claim 21, wherein the pot support ribs jut out at least partially sideways with an excess over the support profile.
 24. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein respective tops of the pot support ribs are on a common positioning plane on which the container for food to be cooked is placed.
 25. The gas hob of claim 21, wherein the pot support ribs jut out over the support profile with a predefined height in the direction of a vertical axis.
 26. The gas hob of claim 25, wherein the support profile is a pot support frame.
 27. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the gas hob has two gas burners, and wherein the pot support covers the two gas burners.
 28. The gas hob of claim 26, wherein the pot support frame of the pot support is rectangular.
 29. The gas hob of claim 28, wherein the pot support is trapezoidal.
 30. The gas hob of claim 16, wherein the gas hob has four gas burners, and wherein respective two of the four gas burners are assigned to one of two pot supports.
 31. The gas hob of claim 30, wherein the two pot supports are identical and positioned on the gas hob with their respective trapezoidal pot support frames rotated 180° to one another.
 32. A pot support for a gas hob, wherein the gas hob has a gas burner; wherein the pot support has pot support ribs to support a container for food to be cooked; and wherein the pot support ribs are disposed in a random arrangement to one another. 